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A new budget hotel room design is being introduced by AccorHotels on the back of a £28 million refurbishment of its UK portfolio last year.
The so-called ‘sweet room’ will be expanded across the country following the installation of new beds into 13 Ibis hotels in 2015.
New rooms will feature in Ibis properties at London Excel, Birmingham airport, Portsmouth, central Manchester, London Docklands, Reading and Edinburgh, as well as a new Ibis Cambridge due to open in September.
New beds are also being installed across mid-range Novotel properties.
Additionally, the Mercure London Bridge in the capital has been renovated including the conversion of its restaurant into a Marco Pierre White franchise.
Among other projects, three former Formule 1 hotels have been converted into extensions of adjacent Ibis properties at Thurrock and Liverpool and Ibis Budget in Barking.
Five new hotels are due to open in the UK this year and in 2017, at a cost of more than £160 million to add to the French group’s UK portfolio of 97 properties representing 15,395 rooms.
These include a flagship 313-room Novotel at Canary Wharf, London, which at 39 storeys will be the world’s tallest Novotel.
Hervé Deligny, UK chief operating officer of Accor development arm of HotelInvest, said: “One of HotelInvest’s key activities is to invest in our existing portfolio to ensure our hotels are as attractive as possible to guests and consequently profitable.
“We continue to make significant investments across our brands, including the launch of the Ibis sweet room which is one of the most contemporary and comfortable products in the economy segment.
“At the same time we are keen to add to our UK portfolio and are actively seeking great hotels in exceptional locations.”